What is birth trauma?

Birth trauma means different things to different people - only YOU get to decide if you've had a negative or traumatic birth experience. Only YOU get to define what birth trauma means to you.

Image/MollyWhuppie

Common experiences for those who've had a traumatic birth can include (but are not limited to):

Unexpected interventions

Unexplained or un-consented interventions

Being treated rudely or disrespectfully

Not being heard or your requests ignored

Fearing for your own, or your baby's, life

Complete loss of control

Extreme pain and/or exhaustion

Fear and confusion

Malpractice

Being provided misinformation

Physical injury - of yourself or your baby

Baby needing time in NICU, SCBU or NNU

Baby loss

Discrimination or disrespect due to ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, family make up, disability, birth philosophy

Simply not getting the birth you wanted

How does birth trauma impact?

Having a negative or traumatic birth experience can impact a person in many different ways. Some of these are profound and far-reaching.Birth trauma can impact:

Bonding with baby

Breastfeeding success

Relationships with spouse/partner/family

The development of anxiety, depression, general distress

The development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The development of hyper-vigilance

Confidence in parenting

Physical health

Birth trauma can impact in other ways – the impacts of the birth can be very different between different people as no person, or their experience, is the same.

If you feel like you've had a negative or traumatic experience around your birth then that feeling is real and it is valid. Take a look at our Strategies page to find suggestions for processing and healing your experience.